Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Going South.... back to the north end of the south park.
It's getting hot, 8os F 25 C. These south beaches are nice and peaceful and practically deserted, especially on week days.

Spessard Holland Beach Park South

But you can still find junk

Who says a cheetah can't change it's spots?This one has gone beyond the pale.Faded by sun, Chester Cheetah looks more like asnow leopard.

And you do get to meet nice people. We talked with a surf fisher who was having good luck catching sand fleas for bait. He told us how he saw three manatees temporarily caught up on a sand bar the other day. They drew a crowd as they flipped around and freed themselves. Manatees can get huge but they're sweet creatures. He also told us how his granddaughter was learning to surf and was blessed with a pair of dolphins sharing a wave with her.

Fishing line for the recycle tube

Green shovel day in Melbourne Beach!My collection is growing

We also met these guys, on the adventure of a lifetime; riding bicycles to California. They left Miami about three days ago; only about 3000 miles to go. Hey Sara, look out for these guys. You may see them out there, looking exhausted.

It brought back memories of my own bike trip. I rode from Ontario, Canada to Indialantic, Florida in spring 2001. About 1800 miles. There were some rough moments but it was awesome. It took 30 days of riding with one day off. My right pinky took a week to uncurl! My brother did a similar trip from Ontario to New Orleans. My advice to anyone even considering such an adventure, I hate to sound like a commercial but really- JUST DO IT!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Continuing south from the south end of Spessard Holland Beach Park North, we walked until we reached the north end of Spessard Holland Beach Park South.

Today's conditions; (Monday) windy, choppy seas and a nice 80 F- 25 C. I had Lee and Scotty with me in Melbourne Beach today. I have not been able to get to the beach as much as I would like but I'm getting there when I can.

Lee and I have been busy getting pulled over as robbery suspects-the nerve of those people committing a crime in a vehicle that looks exactly like mine!!!! It was a short terrifying incident that was handled with professionalism by the boys in blue- actually I think they were wearing black but thank goodness we have them to do their job; the real perps were caught that night! Whew! I knew I didn't do it.

Today we relaxed in the fresh air as we walked the beach picking up the usual

We came upon sea turtle tracks, I followed them up to the nest

and right on top was this plastic lid

It looks as though mom stirred it up as she covered her nest,

Sea turtle moms deserve better.

I discovered some half buried nasty diapers- yuck- and lots of clear plastic; among other debris.

Scotty picked up a few bottles that we recycled.

looks to me like somethingthat could actually fit ina beach bag!

Between the three of us we probably collected around 4-5 pounds of trash including 13 ft of rope, raising the new total to.....
1228 ft or 409 yards.

Beach Sunflowersomething bright and colorful I like to see at the beach

Thanks for stopping by, there is a paintbrush and a ceiling in my immediate future but I'll be back ASAP,
beachhugger

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Rock Out the Violence kept me busy for awhile but now I'm getting back to beach cleanups. The concert was great. All the bands that generously donated their time and talent for the local domestic violence shelter were awesome.

It was a fun first run for the Betty Galloway Children's Museum. The kids loved my paper mache volcano, the percussion petting zoo and painting shells. I sold my first TOWE (This One Won't Entangle) rope bracelet which I made out of recovered beach rope. 25% will be happily donated to the Sea Turtle Preservation Society. : 0 )

I headed back to Melbourne Beach to continue my county wide cleanup. I picked things up (literally) at Spessard Holland Park North. We cleaned the length of the park.

Lee, sneaking up on litter

Poor Ken, abandon at the beachin his britches

Someone's castaway flowers decorated the beach

It says: ready to enjoy. I don't think the sea turtles would agree

We found 11 ft of rope, brining the tally to........1215 ft or 405 yards of rope removed from Brevard beaches since October 2011.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Flying solo yesterday, I began where I last ended my previous cleanup; Third Avenue, Melbourne Beach.

Third Avenue, my starting point

It wasn't quite the mess that Ocean Avenue was, however, there was enough to fill a tote bag.

Turtles like shiny things

Shadow beagle
sniffing out litter

Highlighting the need to
keep our beaches clean

There are trash cans at every beach access,
not that far away. I don't get it.

You cannot hide from me

One for the collection!

Wreckage in the wrack

It was hot, about 85F, 23C; summer is on its way. During the summer we go through periods of 100F for days in a row, around 35C. My cleanups will have to be either early morning or as the sun is setting; that's too hot for me.

Journey's end for this day- The Breakers condos

I walk down on the top of the sand, searching the dunes for junk and then on my return I walk along the shoreline, finding relief from the hot sand in the cool ocean water.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

It's spring break in Brevard county so I had my helper with me yesterday. Awesome weather for the occasion, 82F 26 C.

Ocean Ave, Melbourne Beach was where we brought our energy and boy it's a good thing we did. What a mess. Food wrappers and drink bottles everywhere.

junk food junk

Bottle shock

Mcmess

It only took about 15 minutes for us to fill two totes full of junk. Most of it was trash left on the beach. There were a few well worn pieces of debris that had been in the drink for awhile but 95% of what we collected was abandon by user.

I found 18 beer cans buried in the sand. Some of them, I had to dig deep to retrieve. Why do people think that makes it better? It's not, especially during sea turtle nesting season.

Sea turtle nest

One thing I find really interesting is that the temperature of the nest determines the gender of the turtles. Cool dudes and hot chicks!

30 recyclables

My county walk is going to head south to Sebastian Inlet, then back to Ocean Ave heading north to Port Canaveral.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Back in February I discovered a video by Chris Keet about his plastic experiment. He challenges people to save the plastic used over a thirty day period and give up one plastic item that you use regularly for that thirty day period.

Almost everything comes in plastic! Looking at my plastic pile was not pretty. My dogs favorite food comes in a big plastic bag, the best dish soap ever is in a plastic bottle, my son's favorite snack- yogurt comes in these little plastic cups.

I'm trying to cut back where I can but one recent change I made was my liquid laundry soap.

I gave it up for powder laundry soap in a cardboard box. Of course inside the cardboard box is.....

a plastic scoop

I turned the yogurt cups into music shakers for my Betty Galloway Children's Museum booth at the Rock out The Violence music festival on April 14th. This event is to support the Serene Harbor Domestic Violence Shelter here in Brevard County. If You're in town, come to the Wickham Park pavillion from 12-8 for the best local bands and a great cause.

I'm scrubbing out the dog food bags and experimenting with turning them into shopping bags.

Veggies from the farmers market are plastic package free and much fresher.

On another note...today was to be the first day of my walk the county cleanup event. Reality check: I'm not going to be able to walk the county in a week. Especially with my April 14th event- I have so much to do! However, I am going to begin my county walk tomorrow and do it in little bites.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Spring breakers are all over the place enjoying our Florida spring- a beautiful mid 70s day or mid 20s C.The beaches look pretty good but they can be better...

Lager litter

The first turtle hatchlings have been spotted on our Brevard county beaches. Yea! These little guys have a tough road ahead. Only about one in 4000 survive to adulthood. They deserve a nice clean beach to start their journey.

faded balloon

snack scrap

We walked for about an hour collecting bits of plastic as well as shells. A passing surfer gave us a big thanks, always appreciated.

We removed 9 feet of rope from the beach bringing the total up to 1204 ft or 401 yards.